Monday, March 26, 2012

Cryptic Writer Messages

Writerhood - A place where writers ideas come in ghetto form until they're dissected from the pile of crap into something beautiful.
I find when an idea starts to weave it's way into my head it comes in these little cryptic messages.

- See's dead people

See what I mean? Now I have to iron out if they LITERALLY see dead people, as in, they work in a morgue or a funeral home. Or is there going to be some paranormal aspect to it? Instead of questioning too much I write the fact down and wait for more to come.

- Raven

Now I've got a first name. It also means I'm even more confused than I was to begin with. Will the name Raven have special meaning later? Or is it just dark because her family has a sense of humor.

- Unravel

Great, a title that doesn't go with anything in the two cryptic messages I received.

My novels come in pieces. Each getting me one step closer to a story, though I'm just not sure it's all going to be in the same 300+ pages. It's all a process and I believe that Stephen King was right when he said 'opening the flood gates to ideas means they'll never go away'. Even when I'm on a 'writers block' stint the ideas are still coming. Granted, I'm frustrated because I can't do anything with them, but they're there. Waiting to be read, written, and said aloud. Wanting me to breathe in their idea and take it on. I wait for them to drive the wheel and hope I don't get burned.

John Steinbeck said, "Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen."

I've been getting ideas for so long and have so many I don't think about it much any more. My problem is focusing on just one long enough to turn it into something. (The others are all still there yelling, "PICK ME! PICK ME!"

Ooh, interesting. For me I usually start with scenario's...film grad student going home for her younger sister's wedding. A few other things come, but the hard part for me is getting the scenario to novel-length plot form.

I always seem to get a spark of an idea and it grows from there before I start doing some brain storming. Normally a small scene or a premise and then the characters will pop into my head without too much thinking, and then I start brainstorming.

I see a picture of a place in my head like maybe the beach or the mountains. Then I imagine a couple and their life within either a log cabin or a beach house (something along those lines). My ideas come to me in scenes. Then I usually can fill in the gaps as I begin writing. I also start with a title and work from there.

My ideas come in bits and pieces, too. I'll see something while driving my car, or taking a walk. I'll think of something when I hear a certain song, etc. I have tons of little scribble notes, all waiting for their place in my memoir! Thanks for a great post, Jen!